Reborn (may change title)
by Silversun XD
Summary: She didn't know who she was, no name, no identity. Only that she had three purposes she should fulfill, but getting attached to this infant may interfere with that ... or will it? I mean she could survive everything else, what can being a guardian do to her? If only the gods hadn't interfered...
1. Chapter 1

This was nice. It was a bright night by the sea on the Californian coast line. The stars were out sparkling like a toddler just sneezed glitter on a black, blue, and purple canvas. The beautifully glowing moon was a waxing crescent illuminating the sandy and rough rocked beach. The ocean was gently reaching the beach and large boulders in a bright neon blue with each crashing wave and disturbance. The ocean was a beautiful sight to behold.

I had read earlier on the internet that the glow in the ocean was radioactive, bioluminescent algae or phytoplankton or something along those lines. Taking that warning to heart but still wanting to see it in person, I climbed up to the least occupied tourist outpost. I wasn't exactly a people person, but I liked to think there was safety in numbers for some occasions. The quiet murmurers of the other people were a relief from the loud streets.

I leaned against the sea foam green painted railing to settle into watching the spectacular show in front of me. While I think the ocean is beautiful and mysterious and fascinating, it always has this sense of danger to it. There are, at the very least, 20 forms of life in there that could kill me if I was stupid enough to mess with them, so I just like to watch from the safety of the beach, rocks, TV, or, in this case, railings.

Then it wasn't nice at all anymore.

A loud scuff against pavement alerted me to extra company as some drunks came by the spot. I glanced quickly to see if they were near me, but my worry was unfounded when they stopped and went into another direction. I relaxed tense shoulders and went back to my sea view.

A loud thump, unexpected flip, and terrifying dive away had me screaming and plummeting to the craggy rocks and crashing blue waves down below. Crack went my head, back, and hip, I submerged into a cool blue inferno. Darkness reined over everything since the pain was too much.

Next thing I knew, I was floating gently in a current, _under the water_ and having a sense I shouldn't still be _alive_ , but everything I knew before was blank. Why do I feel like I should have died? I blinked hard to try and come out of my daze. I reached a hand to rub my face in exhaustion. Only, I saw that it was webbed and tipped in claws. My forearm had spiny fins and glimmery navy scales. If I had fins then why did I think I had hands? Wait, did I always have a fish tail? Why is the upper part of my body not covered in scales and glowing softly in bioluminescent light blue? Do I have gills? Could I breathe above the surface of the ocean?

I can't remember anything, but I do have a feeling of a purpose. Not a name. Not any other knowledge. Just a purpose: help mortals, find a specific mortal, and find Maui. Not really in that order, but they feel important.

Anyways, why would I need to help mortals? What _are_ mortals? Who is the mortal I'm supposed to be looking for? What is so special about this particular mortal? Who is Maui? How do I know his or hers name? Is he, or she, like me? Could this 'Maui' tell me all this?

It was worth a shot.

Swimming with this tail was harder than expected. I have extra spiny fins on my waist and back that direct me at the slightest movement. My hair kept flouting in my face when I adjusted one fin too much. Was it always silver? Whatever… well eventually I had most of my techniques down to not fumble so much in the water.

Maybe I should bring food?

I eyed the empty expanse before me. There doesn't seem to be any choices here. Wait! I think I saw something! Every far off, I see a shadow of something. It seems stationary so maybe it's a reef! How would I know that? Ah, well, never mind. I swam in its direction and came to a seemingly lifeless hunk of rock. I skimmed and maneuvered around to see if I could at least find clams or mussels of some kind. Not really knowing or caring how I know stuff I didn't before, I crested a large formation before beholding the sight of large bubble domes among the rocks. Blinking at the anomaly, I approached one cautiously until I felt like I was being mentally seized by something.

I don't really know what it was. It was just screaming at me to go in the other direction, so I did. I spun around and shot off, cutting through the water. It was gradually getting warmer as the waters grew brighter as the sun dawned a new day. By mid-sun, I was at my destination. I guess. I gazed at the bright sandy shore. A deep gulp through my gills, I popped my head above the water to see if I could breathe the air. Too much! I dropped back under. I can most certainly breathe up there, but the air was so rich! I need to take it slow. I _need_ to be on this island.

Popping back up to my nose this time, I took small sniffs before gradually taking normal breathes. I creeped up the shore. My body feeling heavier the closer I get to land. Soon, I was washed up on the beach. Crawling by arms and wiggling my way up, I was able to get to the more dry part of the beach. I flipped over to sit up. Just in time to see my fin melt into two legs, I gasped and panicked when I saw that all my fins, spines, webbing, and scales melted away to white-blue skin and clear rounded nails. I even shrunk!

'Okay, calm down, maybe it's temporary and I will return back to normal when I return to the water. Alright, deep breathes, I can do this! Just need to figure these new limbs out first.'

For the next couple of hours, I tried my balance, standing, and baby steps for walking. Having legs was strange since all I knew before was a tail fin! Soon, I was able wobble a walk, then a steadier walk, a sprint, and finally a jog around this beach. Exhilarated by my mini-triumphs, I did a couple of spins and giggled until I fell over, tangled in my overly long hair. I beamed at the lowering sun.

I jolted when I heard pained cries. Happy feeling gone, I searched the lining trees with my eyes for what could have caused such a sound. Slowly, I got up to investigate. I moved through the foliage listening to the pained cries and whimpers. I crouched down low when there was a rustling and a crash. I peeked to see a feminine form trip through the foliage. She looked like she just gave birth; a swollen belly, bloody legs, very small baby in her arms, and a swallow look to her distressed face. Why was she even walking? What is she doing?

Shouts and harsh lights rang through the air behind the woman. She started and rushed towards the rocky cliff in fear. Stamping feet of burly angry men stampeded past me toward the woman before splitting off searching under the foliage. Scared that I was going to be discovered and beaten to death by their blunt weapons, I snooped quietly back towards the beach.

I waded into the water as soon as I could, but something was nagging me to look up to my left. Looking in that direction, I stared in horror as the woman clutched her baby at the top of the seaside cliff before letting it go. I could hear a whisper of a heartfelt apology as I gazed at the falling infant. I rushed through the water to the falling infant. Leaping through the air to grab it before it hit the surface of the water, I flipped over to face the sky with the infant in my arms. I took the brunt of the impact as I cradled the infant close. Holding it gently and carefully, I pulled it to the surface just to see the end hair of the woman disappear back down the cliff. I looked back down at the infant. In just one of my hands, I saw how it was so small. I tensed when yelling spiked in volume. I cradled the infant closer to my heart as I drifted as silently and smoothly as I could with the baby out of the light of the moon and into the shadow of the jutting rock the baby was thrown off of to listen to the voices recede in the distance before wincing at the dull thuds before silence. I clutched the infant to my shoulder in silence for the mother.

I looked back down to the infant to see it wasn't breathing. Heart racing, I leaped onto the nearest rock. I shrank, and the baby could be held in my arms more comfortably. Placing my webbed ear against it – his - chest, I waited impatiently. A small heartbeat was all I need. I laid him face down gently across my newly formed lap and pressed down firmly on his back in small gentle thumps until he coughed up water and some kind of goo. He whimpered and started to cry. I panicked. If he cries too loud, he will get us spotted! Bringing him to my chest to gently hug him, I started to hum and shush him until he quieted down. I sighed in relief.

I looked up to see if I was spotted by the beings, but almost fell off my seat when the _ocean_ was staring at me. No, it didn't have eyes. It was a singular calm wave just standing, flouting, whatever in front of me, looking in my direction. I hugged the infant closer to me, nervous. What did it want?

I whispered an uncertain greeting. I don't know if the angry men were still around or not, and I don't feel comfortable in knowing the _ocean_ has taken interest in me. I stiffened when it nodded. It motioned a few times away from the island. It wants me to swim. I shook my head.

"I can't. He cannot breathe underwater. He-he will become too cold. He would not survive."

Even now, I could tell he was too young to travel. I looked down at the infant in worry. I felt the water swipe at my back, shifting my hair forward. When it came into contact with the baby, the strangest thing happened. Ripples of silver bloomed on his body. My hair moved of its own accord. It started to wrap around us in a harness. Soon, I had a silver cocoon strapped to my chest. Before I could blink in confused bewilderment and awe, I was toppled over into the water with a splash. Panicked, I frantically swam for the surface, but the pressure kept me under. Confusion and stress then melted away when I could still hear his steady breathing. I relaxed a moment in relief.

That was a mistake.

Suddenly, the currents changed to jerk me at high speed away from the island. I was tense for the entire ride. I was worried for the infant since I'm pretty sure he hadn't had anything to eat in a long while or at all, and night had already passed! I was scared for both of our well beings since the ocean is taking us to an unknown destination. I don't know what is going on; who I'm supposed to ask; or even what to do but stiffly follow/allow the current take me and the baby to the dot in the horizon.

The baby was starting to cry out in hunger, and I had nothing to give him. I silently begged the ocean to help me or at least help the baby. Then I was gently laid on the bright sand. I looked around to see an expanse of untouched beach and thriving vegetation. Anger was ignited in my blood. Dropping me off on this unpopulated island will NOT help my baby! I seethed at the ocean until I was able to stand. My hair fell away to reveal my crying baby. Anger melted into desperation. I turned to the forest to see if I could search for _anything_ to feed him when I stopped short at seeing a woman made of plants standing at the tree line.

I held onto him tighter. Who is she? What is she? Where did she come from? I eyed her suspiciously when she opened her arms. I pursed my lips. I melted into a couple of tears when I heard his whimper. He was in pain.

"Can you help him?"

She simply nodded and smiled gently. Reluctantly, I handed him over slowly. I lingered moment's touch, petting his tuft of curly dark hair. I watched as she carried him with care. Biting my lip, I hovered for a moment when she turned her back on me. The baby's whimpers and cries started to muffle then silenced. It felt like a slap in the face. What is she doing? I raced around her to see her feeding him with a large white bud at the nib. I relaxed and smiled with relief.

Until I noticed that the more he drank the darker my vision became. My calmed thoughts scattered to a dulled pace. My muscles weakened until I collapsed onto the packed earth of the island. My hearing sharpened to hear a high note until shutting off. The smells of the soil, flowers, and sea snuffed out in my nose. I couldn't speak. Everything was fading.

With the last of my vision, I glared at the passive vegie woman smiling sadly at me. All I wanted to do was help him. What did I do wrong?

Everything was dark.


	2. Chapter 2

When I woke up, my surroundings were not the border between white sandy beach and a tropical forest in the beaming sunlight. It was dim with huge structures of mutated coral, crusty barnacles, wasted shells, and various equally as large carnivorous plants. At least, I think they're plants. Sitting up slowly, I felt like my head was splitting in two. My head swam when I sat up but didn't have the time to come to terms with it since I was tackled from behind. Whatever the creature was, it didn't live long after. I had had grabbed whatever flesh I could touch and started to claw with sharpened nails until it died. Back covered in blood, tense and on alert, I glared at anything that moved in my direction.

I stalked about my new place of residence for an unknown amount of time hiding or fending for myself against all manner of creatures, large and extra-large. I couldn't tell if it was morning, noon, or just before evening. I did know when night fell because that was when everything started to glow. I scowled at the haunting beauty around me. I wasn't in the mood to appreciate it right now. I was mad, at my situation and at Vegie Woman. Well actually, I can't be really be mad at her since I had pleaded for her to help him, but draining me to feed him was not what I had in mind for help! I don't even know what she took from me to feed him with anyhow. And, I was worried about the little guy the Vegie Woman had under her care.

 _Maui_

I paused in my trek between a gigantic spiral shell and a drop off. What or who was that voice? Does it know where this _Maui_ is? Could it tell me what's going on?

 _This infant's name shall be Maui._

I blanked. Oh, I see. He wasn't a grown person, but the infant I 'happened' to find. That doesn't lessen my worry for the little guy at all. I still care about what is going to happen to him. I trudged around a humongous shell to see an entrance of sorts, and just before peeking in; I was snapped at by a coconut crab as tall as I was with a much smaller sized crab on its back clicking it claws at me in malicious enjoyment. I backed away quickly to scurry on over to another, well any, hidey hole I could find.

After finally finding an unoccupied crevice in the coral and rock wall, exhaustion finally set in. I peeked back at the crack of an open entrance. I figured that it was too small for something else to slip in to kill me, seeing as everything else is so big. Anger burned behind my eyelids at having to worry about this. I hissed at the hole to my new home and surprisingly, some goop shot from under my tongue and covered the entrance in a foggy white membrane. I rolled my eyes. What else can I do that I don't know about?! I poked at the stuff to see if it would pop, but it didn't. It held on firm enough to actually be a porous rock wall kind of material. Backing up, I glared through the glaze in my eyes at my new home. I collapsed and curled onto my side and fell asleep, wanting this terrible day to just end already.

 **Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Time flew by without my noticing, but the reason I know how I could tell that time was passing was by, the Gods small radio talks. I would hear them every once and a while about updates on how Maui was doing, growing up with _them_. I had wondered if I could communicate back, but it seemed to be a one way kind of deal. I am miffed about that. Why couldn't I talk to them or see Maui? Don't I have a right to that at least? I want to know how he is doing by his own accounts. Does he even know about me? At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't.

That was a depressing thought. I mean, I might have gotten a attached to him in the small amount of time I was with him. I want to know if he is happy or sad or lonely. I want to know him and be there for him, like an older sister or an aunt or something like that.

Well, anyhow, during my time down here, I had carved my tiny cave deeper, wider, and taller than it was with my teeth. I didn't have any tools; my claws didn't work; and the rocks/coral didn't taste very good, but it worked. Now, I have shelves, storage, a ledge covered with the most spongey substance I could find for a bed large enough for my real form, and a sink hole with occasional rushing waters connected to the geysers that are everywhere around this place, Lalotai. For the Realm of Monsters, it wasn't so bad once you stake claim on an area and show dominance. Even that large coconut crab I encountered doesn't mess with me anymore; I was starting to get settled in quite nicely.

That was when I noticed my tattoos. The one on my upper left chest showed me rescuing infant Maui: I was surfacing from under the water while cradling him below the rock his mother was vanishing from above. The one on my upper back depicted my banishment to Lalotai: me falling below the waves towards the familiar rock and coral reaching for the Vegie Woman holding infant Maui. Below that tattoo is my domination over my territory: I was standing firmly and fiercely in front my cave with various defeated creatures around me and the enterance. I don't know who was giving me these tattoos, and I didn't know how to feel about them.

It wasn't until after what I perceive to be a few weeks after discovering them did I find out how I felt about them. I hated and admired them. I had gotten a new tattoo under my chin and on my neck after being hunted by a few of the Gods for my lower jaw and my hair. The tattoo on under my chin depicted me lost, battered, bruised, and my jaw ripped off my maw. The one on my neck showed how my jaw bone was crafted into a fish hook, Manaiakalani and my hair shorn to braid into its rope bind and line.

It happened when I had been casted into a maze of coral and rock under the water's strange brilliancy as soon as I had passed the membrane to my home. It was one moment to be in the dim, gloomy last-one-standing arena of death to a bright, warm, and beautiful landscape of sea and sand. I was confused and a bit hopeful. Where they going to let me see Maui? If I was, what was I going to talk to him about? I was so hopeful and excited to see Maui. I mean, I don't want to be seen as obsessive or fanatic to him. Just that I care for him.

It wasn't until I beheld the large glowing figures with weapons did I realize that I was really brought there for sport and amusement. My hopes were crushed. Hours upon days, I was trapped to evade and attempt escapes from the figures wanting my pain, tears, and screams. I was merely a fish, a _monster_ in their eyes. Exhausted and weak from no food or rest, I was caught, looted, and dumped back in my original imprisonment. I had laid there, bitter, humiliated, and seething in rage and hatred.

The only consolation I had was that the Gods who disrespected and abused me couldn't use their new tool. They weren't able to use it as they finished the point and design. The hook grew heavier and heavier in their grasp to a point of being unable to be lifted and almost hollow like when cast, just to float upon the surface of their ponds and lakes, never to catch any fish. The rope bind and line they used my hair for went from soft and graspable to scratchy and harmful to _them_ , blistering their hands as they tried to use it.

It wasn't until the next century passed that they gave up, and I had finally regrown my hair and jaw bone again. I could finally eat properly once more! I heard later that they gave Maui my Manaiakalani under the form of a gift instead of telling him what it did to them. I cackled at the astonished whispers when Maui could wield Manaiakalani with ease and with no harmful side effects, but I smiled gently as I felt a new connection with Maui as he wielded _his_ prized new weapon. I want to help him to stay safe and protected, so I guess all the torture didn't go to waste.

It was also the day I howled in fury when they just dumped him into the sea with a boat and to 'go broaden your horizons' or 'seek your origins' or-or some crazed joke of wisdom they had made him believe. They were just kicking him out of their realm when he started to understand who and what they really are. Those Gods and Goddesses made my blood boil. It was like they were abandoning him too as soon as he understood that between himself and them that they are different. Just when I was about to drop my bitterness and hate for them, they went and did that to him.

I mulled about the idea of Maui being abandoned again, even when he didn't know it at both times. Eventually, he is going to figure out that he won't be returning to the realm of the gods at any time. I didn't like it. No, I hated that thought! With that in mind, I headed for the nearest geyser. With some good timing, I hopped into the spout of water for a one way ticket to the mortal realm. I braced myself to pass the barrier, but instead, I went SPLAT! The gossip whispers disappear. I fell in my enlarged form, stunned. Snapping out of it when I broke through the first branch, I swung from the coral and rocks, avoiding any species that try to eat me as I shrank. I plopped down in front of my cave. I was in a daze at the reality of it all.

I couldn't get out.


End file.
